Lucien
I hadn’t taken a night off in three years.
Not since the last summit.
Not since the curse began to fracture my control.
Not since I buried the last tether the Council tried to force on me.
But tonight wasn’t about control.
It was about choice.
And Mira was waiting.
---
The restaurant was quiet, tucked into the edge of the cliffs where Vale Technologies met the sea. I’d reserved the entire terrace—not for spectacle, but for space. She needed breath. I needed rhythm. We needed silence that could hold us.
The moon was high.
Not Blood Moon.
Just ours.
---
She arrived in a dress the color of soil after rain—dark, rich, alive. Her hair was pulled back, her glyph visible at her throat. She didn’t hide it. She didn’t soften it. She wore it.
I stood as she approached.
She did
